This lesson
can be used along with a solar system unit or when the earth's rotation
is being taught.

Time
Required:

30 - 45
minute lesson

Teacher
Preparation:

Before
beginning this lesson, the teacher needs to read the following Native
American Stories: "Her Seven Brothers", a Cheyenne legend
retold by Paul Goble and "How the Big Dipper and North Star came
to be", an Assiniboine legend retold by Jerome Fourstar. This can
be done by reading the stories to the students or by having the students
read the stories for themselves. My suggestion is the teacher read the
story to the students regardless of grade level.

Student
Preparation:

Students
would have to have some background knowledge of the earth's orbit in
our solar system.

Student's
will learn about the precession of earth's as it rotates about it's
axis.

Introduction:

This lesson
is a good example of how Native American culture incorporated earth
science principles in their oral tradition.

Procedures
for the Classroom:

Read
"Her Seven brothers" or "How the Big Dipper and North
Star Came to Be", orally to the class.

Use
a globe to provide a visual aid to point out where the earth's axis
is located. Then spin the globe to show how the earth is rotating.

Explain
that as the earth is spinning on it's axis and the gravitational pull
of the moon and the sun cause the earth to move like a spinning toy
top. The North Pole axis is like the topside of a top and the South
Pole axis like the bottom of a top.

Spin
a top to illustrate this, if you don't have a top any other object
may work to illustrate that the North Pole axis will point in different
directions. A football spun on it's end will even work.

Began
a classroom discussion on how the Native Americans might have known
the North Star could be used to help travelers find their way.

Students
can cover one end of their paper towel, toilet paper, or gift wrapping
paper rolls with black construction paper and with a push pin create
the Big Dipper and North Star.

Facts
and Concepts:

Astronomers
have been able to prove that the star is called the "North Star"
because it lines up with the North Pole and this changes approximately
every 26,000 years. In 3000, B. C., the North Star was Thuban, a star
in the constellation of Draco. Presently the North Star is Polaris in
the constellation Ursa Minor. In the year 15,000, the star Vega, in
the constellation Lyra, will be the North Star.

Follow-Up
Activities:

Students
at a more advanced level can learn about how a Gyroscope works.

Evaluation
Suggestions:

The evaluation
will be from the classroom discussion, and their model of the Big Dipper
and North Star.

Resources:
"Her Seven Brothers", illustrated by Paul Goble
"How the Big Dipper and North Star came to Be", Indian Reader
Series, Northwest Labs.

Illustration
1.
The precession of the earth shows first where the North pole presently
aligns with Polaris, the middle pole is where the earth axis will be
in 15,000 A.D. when the North Star will be Vega, The pole at the left
is where the earth's axis' was 3, 000 B.C. when the North Star was Thuban.